(Note: Video excerpt of Peter’s talk available at the bottom of this post.)

Out of air, swimming madly, spotting two black dots, hoping they were a crewman’s boots, reaching for them. Snatched from the water, gasping for the best breath of air he’d ever had. It was Peter Isler’s watery escape from the huge monohull racing boat Rambler after her keel suddenly snapped off during heavy seas in the Fastnet, plunging to the bottom, unbalancing and turtling the boat in minutes.

Peter recounted the story in dramatic detail for the AYC membership meeting Tuesday night (10/11) before a packed house. The Rambler crew all survived, but it was clear from Peter’s description that there were several close calls and some of the crew might have been saved by a timely photograph. A photograph? Moments before the crash, a photographer took a scheduled shot of the crew on the rail, all properly lined up in PFDs. Even though everyone was supposed to wear PFDs on deck, it didn’t always happen. The picture did it.

Peter autographs his new book.

Many in the room full of AYCers went home after the meeting clutching an autographed copy of Peter’s latest book, Peter Isler’s Little Blue Book of Sailing Secrets, a collection of random thoughts, recollections and suggestions from a life at sail. Here’s a guy who was the best college sailor in the country during his time at Yale, hanging out with people like Stan Honey, last year’s Rolex Yachtsman of the Year. He was onboard as Dennis Connor brought the America’s Cup back from Australia and has been part of four Cup campaigns since. He’s announced for ESPN and Versus Cup broadcasts. He’s participated in a Volvo around-the-world campaign. He’s helped develop the leading software for competition sailing. He’s written several books. And now he’s in demand as a motivational speaker. That’s some kind of life at sail.

Next month: another star attraction will appear at the AYC membership meeting, Tuesday, November 15, at 7pm at the Caddy Shack @ Rolling Hills. Peter “Luigi” Reggio, one of the world’s top race officers and easily the funniest and most outspoken.

Fresh from flipping in the Fastnet, one of sailing’s biggest names will be our speaker at the AYC membership meeting, Tuesday, October 11, beginning at 7pm. AYC meetings are held at the newly-named Caddy Shack @ Rolling Hills, 1415 N Mill Ave, Tempe.

Peter was the navigator aboard Rambler 100 when it lost its canting keel and rolled over, sending its crew into the icy water. All were rescued.

Before the Fastnet turtle, Peter was better known for being a five-time America’s Cup contender, including a two-time winner on Stars & Stripes. Sailing fans will recognize his face and voice from his television commentary of the America’s Cup on ESPN and Versus.

He’s in demand as a sailing, business and motivational speaker. And he’s written several books, including his latest, Peter Isler’s Little Blue Book of Sailing Secrets, which was excerpted in the latest Sailing World magazine. You’ll find more on Peter’s background on his website.

This should be one of the most-attended meetings of the year, so arrive early!

Join us Tuesday 9/13! Some of AYC’s most experienced, longtime members will be in the spotlight for September’s membership meeting, Tuesday, September 13 at 7pm at the newly-named Caddy Shack @ Rolling Hills (same place as always but with a new name), 1415 N Mill Ave., Tempe.

The club has been big and active nearly all of its 53 years and you’ll enjoy tapping into the stories from those earlier days, including some decidedly Blunder Bucket-worthy events.

Professional photographer Tim George records longtime AYC members reminiscing about earlier days of the club. Photo: Mike Ferring

In March we gathered seven of the club’s veterans around a picnic table and asked them to reminisce. We recorded the conversation on HDTV video and I’ve now edited the digits down to about 11 minutes of the choicest nuggets. We’ll play the recording and then let the crowd try to deny it all.

This is a great opportunity for newer members to tap into the history of the club, to learn about what came before and to appreciate what these people did to keep sailing vibrant in the middle of the desert.

Would you like to know how to launch your boat with the trailer still attached? Like some tips on how to attract the attention of law enforcement while boating?

Maricopa County Deputy Sheriff John Ramsay has seen it all in his 25 years of lake duty and he’ll bring a bag load stories, both comical and serious, when he joins us for the next AYC membership meeting, Tuesday, August 9, starting promptly at 7pm, back at our regular gathering spot, the place formerly known as the 19th Tee in Tempe.

Not only does Deputy Ramsay have vast experience with the craziness on our local lakes, but he also trains others to deal with it. He’s one of just 25 officers nationally to be certified to train lawmen on the water.

“Formerly known as”? Yes, the new owner of the restaurant has changed the name to “Caddy Shack @ Rolling Hills.” We stopped by today to see how it was going and found they’re deep into remodeling, which is expected to be finished by Wednesday. Anyway, they say they’ll be ready for us this time.

September’s meeting: Some of the club’s longtime members talk about what it used to be like. We’ve produced a video with several of them telling stories and we expect to have some of them there to swear that it’s all true.

Also coming up: We have confirmation that Peter Isler will speak at our October meeting!

New Meeting Place Tuesday. We’ll meet at the Fiesta Inn in Tempe, 2100 S Priest Drive, just south of Broadway. Go to the main lobby and Maryellen Ferring will guide you to the room.

We’ll have four dinner choices available, each for $13 including tax and tip: hamburger or club sandwich with choice of fries or fruit or a Cobb salad or Caesar salad with chicken. Cash bar with beer, wine, and soft drinks.

Why? The 19th Tee has changed operators and won’t be ready for us. We can return in August.

Our special speaker: North Sails designer Garth Reynolds, who will show us how to sail faster and higher.

Garth will explain how he sculpts a sail and how North tests it to know whether it will really be faster than the others out there. He’ll dissect the characteristics that make a sail fast and reveal what you can do to improve your boat’s sail shape. Result: go faster and point higher.

Garth brings us a rich background of engineering and sailing, including a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of South Florida, where he sailed on the school’s top-20-ranked sailing team. He’s been with North Sails for three years and right now he’s working to design sails for several Olympic teams for the 2012 London Olympics. He also actively races with several classes, including Snipe, 505, J/24, Melges 24, Viper 640, J/80, Thistle and Interclub.

Because of the location change, we’ll postpone the planned ice cream social and root beer floats.

﻿Almost 70 people responded to a survey we put together to figure out how members would like to receive word of meetings, events, and news about our club. Thanks for helping out!

Here are some headline results:

E-mails are the best way to get the word out. An overwhelming number of respondents said they wanted a club e-mail to tell them what’s happening.

The Yahoo list is a good supplement to the members-only e-mails, especially for nonmembers, of course. We now have about 390 people who receive the Yahoo e-mails. And the Yahoo respondents said they were happy with what they get from the list, even with the sometimes snarky debates that can pop up there.

Most people check the AYC website for information, though they’re not always happy with how it works or how it looks. Your comments are in the hands of Webmeister Rob Gibbs to guide him in tweaks. Already: The calendar includes more information, including start times of races.

Also: I’ve just gotten confirmation that Garth Reynolds will be able to make our next membership meeting, Tuesday, July 12 at 7pm.

Garth is a one-design sails expert at North Sails in San Diego. He plans to offer a program like the one he just gave to 85 people at the San Diego Yacht Club, with lots of give-and-take about how they tune sails to make them just that much faster than their (and your) competition.

Maryellen is also planning to make this an ice cream social, with root beer floats and sundaes. Try the float with a dash of Jack. Mmmm.

We’ll be starting precisely at 7pm at the 19th Tee in Tempe (1915 N Mill Ave).

And, get ready for a year of top-rated speaker entertainment, including multi-America’s Cup dude Peter Isler; the high-personality act of Peter Reggio, famed America’s Cup Principal Race Officer (PRO); and Laser Olympic Gold Medalist, twice Rolex yachtswoman-of-the-year and ISAF Sailor of the Year Anna Tunnacliffe. Anna is preparing for a match racing challenge at the 2012 Olympic games and is fresh off victories in England and Germany.

Sailors ate limes to prevent scurvy, right? Michael Bernard won the AYC Laser fleet this year, right? Right. And if you got those right, you were cheering Tuesday night (6/14) when your team faced off against 9 others to score some prizes at the AYC membership meeting.

Maryellen and Mike Ferring brought the questions and some high-tech gear to simultaneously score 10 teams on 21 sailing questions—and mostly to have a good time on Family Fun Night.

It was a close finish, with the “Spinnaker” team of David Rawstrom, Mike Parker, Tony Eanes, and Mary Kay Farrington Lorch squeaking out a two-point victory.

In the night’s other contest, Dominic and Marek Sycamore (ages 11 and 9) walked off with the biggest prizes and the biggest smiles after correctly identifying more Opti boat parts than the other kids in the room. Dominic clutched an iPod Shuffle and Marek an LED headlight.

It was enough fun that the crowd of 65+ chattered into the evening against a video backdrop of Australian Skiffs committing mayhem in Sydney Harbor.

Join us next month, July 12th, for a “new twist” on the Ice Cream Social!

Here’s the plan:
– Tuesday – June 14th – meeting starts promptly at 7:00 pm
– Everyone under 16 receives a T-Shirt
– Name the Opti Boat Part Game for those under 10 – no help from parents
– Join in the fun with a group game; each team of 4 or 5 people with at least one member under 16 as a participant
– We’ll test your sailing knowledge with interactive games with PRIZES for the top two teams….DON’T MISS IT!!!!

And then….enjoy some WILD sailing videos and then we’ll call it a night

Watch for details on Ice Cream Social Night in July. Ever tried a root beer float with Jack Daniel’s?

We had a great celebration with almost 60 attendees, and lots of fun watching photos of ASF students practicing capsize drills and making fun of each other in our semi-annual Blunder Bucket award selection process.

The Board and Members of AYC would like to take this moment to recognize our long time members, the people and families that have built the club we all have to share and celebrate!

THANK YOU AYC for “Paying it forward!” “Paying it back!” And “Staying the course!”

So here I am in the desert away from the ocean and yet I am spending more time around sailing than I have in the last ten years. Coaching the Arizona State Sailing Team and learning about sailing in the desert has been something very special for me, but when I heard Mark Reynolds was coming to speak to our yacht club the wheels of time stopped. 25 years ago I was racing against Mark trying to make the US Olympic Team, and now, here he was coming out here to visit us in the Arizona desert!

Mark Reynolds is simply the sailor’s sailor, as pure as it gets. Two Gold Medals, one Silver Medal and four trips to the Olympics. He is definitely one of the “big boys” of sailing.

On Tuesday April 12th my daughter Carina and I picked up Mark at the airport and brought him to the Tempe Town Lake marina where the ASU sailing team was waiting. The kids were thrilled – and a little nervous – to meet him. He spoke about his college sailing experiences and answered questions for almost an hour.

He explained the importance of having the boat ready to race including the sanding down to 600, polishing and finally the coating, and explained how hard the jib works and how it gets three times more wear than mainsail.

We took photos with everyone showed him the ASU campus and then were off to dinner with AYC Commodore Joe Motil and his wife. Over the course of dinner it became very clear how surprised Mark was at the active sailing community we have here. He said he had no idea this much sailing was going on in Arizona.

At the yacht club meeting Mark spoke for over an hour and you just knew that this was something very special. I have never watched everyone so on the edge of their seats at a club meeting. He talked about the Olympics, about working and sailing with his dad and Dennis Connor, Malin Burnham, Lowell North and many other stars of our sport.

It was especially interesting and exciting hearing how after being in eighth place after two days of racing in the 2000 Olympics he was still able to turn it around and win gold. Persistency wins!

Mark attributes much of his success to his sail design innovations and one of his loves is still sail making. He also remains active in the Star Class working with the International Olympic Committee to keep the Star Class sailboat in the Olympics.

After his presentation Mark took questions and signed posters for the kids, and it was truly breathtaking to see one of the great stars of sailing right there in the room with us all at that moment. Mark Reynolds at the Arizona Yacht Club. Truly we do have an amazing club, and for me, with all of you and Mark together, it was simply a perfect day.

When Mark Reynolds walked into Opening Ceremonies at Sydney’s Olympic Games, he made U.S. Olympic Yachting history as a four-time consecutive Olympic representative in the same event. Well-known as the “Star of the Star class,” Reynolds has the resume to back up the well-deserved nickname: two world championship titles (’00, ’95) and three Olympic medals (1992 Gold,1988 Silver, 2000 Gold) in arguably the most competitive one-design class in the world.

Reynolds was introduced to the sport at age four by his father, Jim Reynolds, himself the 1971 Star World Champion (as crew for Dennis Conner). As a sophomore in college, Mark was All American on the San Diego State University sailing team in 1974. Mark led the team to a 2nd place finish both in 1974 and 1975 in the North American Dinghy Championships. A protégé of Conner’s, Mark started his first Olympic campaign in the Flying Dutchman class. Sailing with Miami’s Augie Diaz, Reynolds’ Olympic dreams were sidelined when the US boycotted the 1980 Games. A Star campaign, founded in 1986 with Hal Haenel (Los Angeles, Calif.), earned him four trips to the Olympics. In 1988 Reynolds/Haenel found themselves in the medal hunt in Korea. Unfortunately, their bid for Olympic Gold was undone in the final race of the regatta when a control line failed and their mast came tumbling down in the incredible winds and waves off Pusan. They settled for the Silver Medal.

Aware that no American Star sailors had ever repeated as Olympic representatives, Reynolds/Haenel kept their focus for the ’92 Olympic Regatta, where they never finished worse than third in any race, and enjoyed the luxury of being able to sit out the final heat. They returned home from Barcelona with Gold Medals. The challenge of competition fueled their desire to compete in a third Olympics, and Reynolds/Haenel placed 8th out of 25 boats at the 1996 Olympic Regatta in Savannah, Georgia.

Reynolds teamed up with Magnus Liljedahl in 1997 with the express goal of winning another Olympic Gold medal, and making it an unprecedented fourth trip to the Olympics. In three years a lot did happen. They won the prestigious Bacardi Cup and the European Championship two years running (’97, ’98), the Spring Championships of the Western Hemisphere (’97), the North Americans (’98), and were runner up at the World Championship (’97). The top ranked US team for two years, they went into ’99 as the top ranked team in the World. Then tragedy struck in June of ’99 when Magnus’ lovely wife, Agneta, was diagnosed with Ovarian cancer. After a hard battle, she passed away in October of that year. Between June and November of ’99, Reynolds sailed 10 regattas with 11 different crews while Magnus remained by his wife’s side. Reynolds/Liljedahl resumed their training in December and in February took possession of a new boat that Reynolds had overseen the construction of.

Reynolds has acknowledged that preparing for and competing in the Trials and Olympics this time was more challenging than ever. Unlike many sailors who put jobs and school on hold during their Olympic campaigns, this husband and father of three maintains a full-time job. While being his own boss makes some things easier, as the predominate sailmaker in the Star class with a steadily rising market share, Reynolds had a lot to deal with business wise. Mark’s business, Quantum San Diego, makes sails for most of his competitors. While preparing for the Trials and Olympics, Mark’s loft was making sails for almost all of his competitors in the Star Class. He also consults with his customers (also his competition) before and during regattas. His Star sails have been used to win 13 of the last 15 Olympic medals.

When Mark and Magnus arrived at the Olympics, they were picked as the favorite Star team to win the Gold Medal. They got off to a rocky start, in the tough conditions and a even tougher fleet that already held 11 Olympic medals. After the 6th race, Mark and Magnus were in 8th place. However, in typical style, Mark and Magnus persevered in the second half of the regatta to have an average 2nd place finish in 5 races to pass those ahead of them and win the Gold Medal. Recognizing their exemplary performance for the year 2000 Mark and Magnus were awarded the ISAF/Sperry World Sailor of the Year award.

Nick will engage us in a conversation about what WE can all do to help our sport – and our club – remain vibrant through demographic and economic changes.

Why is something as rich, substantial and significant as sailing facing such trouble? What can we do about it?

Excerpt from Saving Sailing:

Americans have abruptly stopped sailing. Participation is down more than 40% since 1997 and 70% since 1979. Less than 1% of Americans remain self-described sailors, they are doing less of it and are enlisting fewer newcomers. Current economics are not helping.

A crucial fact: key age groups that might sustain the activity — kids under 13, women and early parents — are essentially not sailing at all. From the basic population data, it is easy to conclude that unless sailing can soon attract newcomers in all age groups under about 40 and from all genders and a wider range of income levels — something that it is not doing well today — the future of the activity is bleak.

Demographic trends hide an important truth: apart from the numbers, there are modest actions that can be taken; basic decisions that can be made by individuals or within small groups to improve the situation.

Please join us for this conversation with Nick 3/8/2011 at our March General Membership meeting with thoughts toward how we in AYC can make a difference for our club and our sport.

The Arizona Yacht Club Board of Directors Election Nominating Meeting will be held March 8, 2011 at 6pm immediately prior to the March General Membership meeting.

Eligible members interested in volunteering to run for election to AYC Board of Directors positions, or that would like to nominate eligible AYC members should see their ACTIVE Fleet Captain, Cruising Captain (acting) Mike Parker or Commodore Joe Motil to participate in the Nominating Committee or to submit nominations.

The ELECTION OF OFFICERS and NOMINATING committee and process are defined by the AYC Bylaws as follows:

9.1.2 Election of Officers. The following Club Officers shall be elected annually by the Membership for one (1) year terms: Commodore, Vice Commodore, Rear Commodore, Fleet Captain, and Cruising Captain. Each year the following Club Officers shall be elected by the Membership for two (2) year terms: Membership Director, Junior Staff Commodore (who shall become Senior Staff Commodore in the second year of his tenure).

12.1.2 NOMINATING: All members of the Nominating Committee must be Voting Members of the Club. The Fleet Captain of each active fleet shall notify the Commodore of the Fleet’s representative. The Cruising Captain shall select one (1) member from the ranks of the predominately Cruising Voting Membership and the Commodore shall select two (2) members-at-large representatives from the ranks of the non-racing Voting Members of the Club. Such selections by the Active Racing Fleets, Cruising Captain and Commodore shall not be subject to approval or challenge by any other entity or person. For the purposes of this Article, an “Active Racing Fleet” shall mean a racing fleet which qualified for a separate start and has at least four (4) Voting Members registered to race, in the last completed Fall or Spring Series of the Club’s racing calendar just prior to the Nominating Committee’s first meeting. The Chairman of the Nominating Committee shall be the Commodore of the Club who shall have no vote on the Nominating Committee. No other Officers or Board Members may be on the Nominating Committee. There shall be no requirement for the Nominating Committee to nominate any incumbent Officer or Member of the Board of Directors to any Office or Board of Director Membership. The Nominating Committee shall procure approval of each of its nominations from the person being nominated prior to conclusion of its duties for the year. The Nominating Committee may nominate more than one (1) candidate for each position open. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Commodore shall automatically be nominated for the position of Junior Staff Commodore.

From the membership corner

Please welcome our newest members, Bob Hastings, John Healy, and Bernie Armstrong, to the club. Bob is a Tucson resident and recently took the ASA keelboat 101 class at Lake Pleasant. Bob is interested in crewing on keelboats at lake pleasant. So, if anyone needs crew, please give Bob a call. John recently moved to Phoenix from Ireland. Both he and his son Denis, who sailed in Ireland, are interested in sailing and racing and are anxious to get out on the water. John is also interested in helping the club with equipment maintenance. Several of us had the pleasure of meeting Bernie and his wife Judy at the last membership meeting. Bernie is a long-time sailor and currently sails an Enterprise, Hairy Carry. Bernie is interested in crewing, racing and helping the club with equipment maintenance.

The 2011 year has been a busy year already with our Birthday Regatta and many other activities. The March General Membership presentation will be Nicholas Hayes, an author who has recently been speaking all over the country about how sailing programs are being revitalized. I hope you can attend that session as it will be all of US that will need to help the club go forward.

The club does not go forward on its own, and relies on the continued participation of the membership. Please step up and ask what you may do to help the club. I know that each member will bring their strengths to the club if even for an hour a month. Clearly we need your help.

I am looking forward to the Commodores Dinner which will be coming up May 14th at the Chart House at McCormick Ranch. We will have a festive evening of great dining along with awards and summary presentations with introductions of the next AYC governing board. Planning is already under way and details of the event will be made available very soon. So don’t forget to block that date for a very nice evening and watch the website or look for e-mails coming soon about the event.

The proceedings of the AYC Annual Christmas Party – A.K.A Buccaneer Gift Exchange (no relation to the fleet, although…) were full of cheer and merriment. Here is a little bit of what went on…

The Overall Winner of the Governor’s Cup for 2010 was awarded to Gene Muller for best overall corrected time. Norm Anderson (PHRF Spin) and Trey Harlow (Portsmouth) were on hand to collect their individual fleet trophies.

Mike and Jo Grijalva were on hand to deliver a Burgee from ???? Mike was also the winner (AGAIN) of the Newport to Ensenada race.

The Blunder Bucket was (finally) awarded to Emory Heisler for getting his back window taken out by the mast of his Bucc, Erin Morgan, when his trailer popped off the hitch (because hd didn’t close the latch!) on his way to the fiberglass repair shop (which is an entirely different Blunder Bucket nomination). And while there were may other nominations, including Bob Worral for his “gift” at the exchange, Emory’s tale of gross bafoonary was by far the favorite of the group.

As always, the Buccaneer Gift Exchange was great fun for all! Lots of Bootie – some great, some, well…not so great (Trailer tire? Really Bob?)

Tiz the season for that favorite of AYC gatherins, the Buccaneer Gift Exchange! This Tuesday eve bring ye bootie to the 19th Tee and prepare for a wild evening. Ye must bring bootie to get bootie, for that be part of the code. When you get called to the deck choose wisely, for if yer bootie be too prized, she may get pirated! But pirated only twice says I, then the prize must lay where she rests. Don’t miss out mate! A jolly time will be had by all.

Phillip Freedman, Sailing coach of ASU‘s sailing team will be coming to give the membership a presentation of all that they have been doing. Recently their sailing club has beaten some prominent Californian teams and looking to do more. Phillip, a recent transplant from San Diego with his wonderful daughter is looking forward to some fantastic plans associated with inter collegiate sailing which is often the base for larger programs. Come see an amazing trophy.

Speaking of trophies,

Come see the coveted Governors’ cup trophy and put your registration in to make history.